Overnight Summary

Each Market In Focus

The Australian share market looks set to follow its international peers and open in the green, while the local dollar has fallen nearly a third of a cent against the US dollar.
At 0700 AEDT on Wednesday, the share price futures index was up 23 points, or 0.38 percent, at 6,111.
In economic news on Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics is due to release November’s job vacancies figures.
No major equities news is expected on Wednesday.
The Australian market on Tuesday closed hardly changed as gains by miners and energy companies offset weakness in the retail and healthcare sectors.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 5.4 points, or 0.09 percent, at 6,135.8 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up five points, or 0.08 percent, at 6,241.5 points.

Wall Street’s major indexes have inched higher as financial, healthcare and industrial stocks extend the new year rally powered by expectations of strong quarterly earnings.
Investors remain hopeful about global economic growth and tax-cut led gains for corporate earnings in a low interest rate environment.
In late afternoon trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.53 percent, at 25,416.15, the S&P 500 was up 0.30 percent, at 2,756.07 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.26 percent, at 7,175.65.

Oil prices closed at fresh three-year highs, as geopolitical risk and confidence in global growth continued to buoy markets.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $1.23, or 2%, to $62.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settle value since December 2014. Brent, the global benchmark, also closed at a three year high, up $1.04, or 1.5%, to $68.82 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose intraday as signs that central banks around the world are pulling away from stimulative policies helped lift bond yields.
The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which measures the currency against a basket of 16 others, rose 0.2% to 86.05. The dollar gained against the euro and the Swiss franc, while declining against the yen.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield climbed above 2.5% to the highest levels since March after the Bank of Japan said it would trim by 5% its purchases of government debt maturing in 10-25 years. Some analysts interpreted the decision as a sign that the central bank might eventually pull back some of its monetary stimulus.
Higher interest rates tend to boost the dollar, as they make the U.S. currency more attractive to investors seeking yield.
Australian Dollar:
The Australian dollar has dropped 0.30 of a cent against the greenback which has inched to an 11-day peak, continuing its recovery off a more-than-three-month low.

European shares rose for a fourth straight session on Tuesday, lifted by strength among cyclical stocks and optimism about further growth in company earnings.
Expectations of possible dealmaking in the auto industry and a weaker euro also helped, pushing the STOXX 600 up 0.4 percent at 400 points, its highest since August 2015 and just a few points below its all-time peak of 414.
The rise came as a global stock benchmark touched another record high with confidence in another strong earning season offsetting worries over valuations becoming too elevated.
Germany’s DAX rose 0.13 percent to 13,385.59.

A tweak to the Bank of Japan’s bond-buying program caused the yen to rise on Tuesday, while gains from commodity stocks as oil hit its highest since 2015 helped shares maintain their flying start to the year.
Asian trading saw Japan’s Nikkei lift more than half a percent to finish Tuesday at its highest since November 1991. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.57 percent to 23,849.99.
Hong Kong stocks rose for the 11th straight session to a fresh 10-year high, aided by inbound money flows from China and strength in index heavyweight Tencent Holdings which rose for the sixth straight session, and hit a record.
The Hang Seng index rose 0.36 percent to 31,011.41. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 0.17 percent to 12,255.68.
China’s main Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.13 percent at 3,413.90 points while its blue-chip CSI300 index ended up 0.70 percent at 4,189.30.
The S&P/NZX50 Index gained 0.09 percent, to 8,433.23.

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